


Echoes of Memory

by Erulisse17



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Enemies to Friends, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-08 20:57:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15251886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erulisse17/pseuds/Erulisse17
Summary: It couldn't be. What are the chances she'd be here? At this college? And yet...When Kylo catches a glimpse of his childhood friend, he has to follow her. To see if it's her. To see if she remembers him. If she's forgiven him.Getting doused in pepper spray was not part of the plan, but it did answer one question.She *definitely* remembered him.Part of the Writing Den's Summer Fic Exchange, with the prompt - "A list of things to pick from: modern AU, college Au, Soulmates AU, childhood friends to lovers, all the angst, overreacting due to a pet peeve, Boss!Ben, Rey kicking Kylo’s ass at shared hobby or skill (painting, tattoos, racing, etc), or literally anything but smut because I am a fool for the written word."





	1. Echoes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kylohhh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kylohhh/gifts).



It couldn’t be.

 

What are the chances of her being at this college, on this quad? Millions to one, probably.

 

And yet-

 

The brunette turned, laughing at something her friend said, giving him a clear view of her face.

 

Dear God. It  _ was  _ her.

 

She waved goodbye to her companions, then turned down an alley between two brick buildings.

 

Without any conscious input from his brain, Kylo’s feet started after her, peering down the alley at her back, still in shock at her bright smile appearing in the crowds of D’Qar University.

 

How long had it been? Six years? Seven?

 

As she rounded the corner, he quickened his pace, shifting the draft of his thesis proposal to his other arm, anxious not to lose her. He knew this was absurd and probably super creepy, but he couldn’t help it. Not after all they’d been through.

 

God, would she even remember him?

 

He came out the other side of the alley, blinking as he faced the setting sun, looking back and forth rapidly as he realized that she was gone. 

 

Shit.

 

“Hey!”

 

He whirled around just in time to notice the small pink canister pointed his direction.

 

“Perv!” She shouted, then sprayed mace directly at his eyes.

 

Dropping to the ground and covering his eyes, he held up his hand and yelled, “Rey, it’s me!”

 

There was a long pause, and then he heard a soft, disbelieving, “...Ben?”

 

He nodded, eyes watering as he squinted at her face. After a few seconds, he watched her face shift into a snarl as she kicked him in the groin.

 

As he fell to the ground in pain, he realized that she had just answered his question.

 

She  _ definitely  _ remembered him.

 

* * *

 

After a few humiliating moments of writhing in pain, Kylo felt someone grab his elbow.

 

“When did you get so freakishly tall?” Rey growled as she hauled him up and ducked under his arm.

 

“When did you start blinding people?” He snarled back, wiping at his stinging eyes.

 

“I only blind people who stare at me and then follow me creepily down dark alleyways.”

 

“I was not staring!” He argued, then realized that he probably should have objected to the creepy following part first.

 

After a few minutes of stumbling along, squinting at the surroundings, he asked, “Where are we going?”

 

“To stop your eyes from being permanently damaged. Now stop lagging and move.”

 

After a few minutes of stumbling and what Kylo was sure was unnecessarily vindictive yanking, they went inside a building, down a flight of stairs into a cold room with bright fluorescent lighting.

 

“Here.” Rey pulled him to the left, then pulled on his shoulder until he was bent halfway down. There was a sudden stream of water hitting both of his eyes, which made him jerk back in surprise.

 

“If you move, it won’t clean your eyes! Now stay there.” Rey snapped.

 

“Hi Rey, did you- wait, who is that?” A light feminine voice echoed from in front of him.

 

“An idiot who got maced,” Rey answered shortly.

 

“What?! Oh no! Poor thing, who maced him?”

 

“Me.”

 

There was a slight pause, then the girl simply responded with a surprised, “Oh.”

 

After running the water over his eyes for a minute, the stinging finally lessened, and he could make out some of the features of the room he was in.

 

It was obviously a lab, full of counters covered in machines and beakers with tubes and pipette stations. Then he looked to his right and saw a petite Asian girl giving him a hesitant wave and smile.

 

“Hi! I’m Rose.”

 

Kylo blinked a few times, then nodded gruffly. “Kylo Ren.”

 

A sudden irritated voice called from the next room, “Oh my God, you’re not actually using that stupid name in real life, are you?”

 

“That is my name!” He snarled as Rey came in and chucked a clean rag at him.

 

“Yeah right.” She turned to Rose and said, “His name is Ben. Don’t let him pull that Kylie Ron crap on you.”

 

As Rey went over to sit in the stool next to Rose, her friend leaned over and whispered, “Wait, like…  _ Ben  _ Ben?”

 

Kylo paused wiping his face to hear Rey’s response.

 

“Unfortunately, yeah.”

 

Rose peeked over at him with a newfound curiosity. “Ooooohhhhhh.”

 

Rey looked over in time to catch his puzzled frown, which somehow made her more annoyed. “Alright, Ben, let’s get you out of my lab and back in the alley where you can creep on more college girls.”

 

“You know that’s not what I was-”

 

“Don’t know, don’t care. Out.”

 

“I don’t know how to get out,” he growled at her, his voice rising to match hers. “I was blinded by a mace-happy maniac and then dragged through a labyrinth of hallways to this dungeon, so excuse me if I'm a bit disorien-”

 

“I can help him out!”

 

Both Kylo and Rey glanced over at the shout to see Rose with her eyes screwed shut and one hand up. She peeked one eye open at the silence, then repeated softly, “I can show him the way out. I don't mind.”

 

Rey let out a long breath, then summoned a smile for her friend. “Thanks, Rose. I’ll start that buffer for you.”

 

Nodding, Rose turned to Kylo and gestured to the lab door. “This way.”

 

He shoved open the door, pausing for just a moment to glance back at Rey, who was studiously  ignoring him as she measured out salt and water into a beaker.

 

Only Rose caught the flash of pain that crossed his face before he slammed the door closed behind him.

 

Kylo walked in silence as Rose chattered next to him. “...and then I said, ‘I’m a mechanical engineer too!’ and then we bonded over how hard biochem is, and I mean, neither of us want to go into chemical engineering, so why is it even a requirement? And then we talked about her old school and how hard it was to transfer, and then how I still needed a roommate and- Oh, here we are.”

 

He winced as his still-sensitive eyes adjusted to the light, then nodded gruffly in thanks.

 

“Sorry you got maced,” Rose offered sympathetically, to which he rolled his eyes.

 

“Don’t be. She isn’t, and it’s a great way to demonstrate how much she hates me,” he muttered with only a smidge of self-pity.

 

Rose blinked in surprise. “She doesn’t hate you.”

 

He raised a skeptical eyebrow and pointed to his face, still covered in angry red hives, as evidence.

 

Sighing, Rose told him, “She’s angry at you, sure. But…” she glanced back towards the lab, then added softly, “Trust me. It’d be easier if she hated you.”

 

His brows knit together. “What does that-”

 

“Sorry, it’s not my story to tell and I’ve said too much already okay you can find your way back from here right? Okay bye!” Rose shouted all at once and disappeared in the basement.

 

He stood there for a few moments longer, then walked back to his apartment slowly, that phrase turning over and over in his mind.

 

_ She doesn’t hate you. _

 

_ It’d be easier if she hated you. _


	2. Memories

“I don’t want to meet the new neighbors, Mom!” He whined with all of his six-year-old might to no avail.

 

“It’s the polite thing to do, dear,” Leia told him as she dragged him and Han outside in a manner he was fairly sure was not polite.

 

As the Andors introduced themselves and the adults talked about boring adult things, he crossed his arms and ignored the curious stare of the small girl hiding behind her father’s legs.

 

_ “Mija, _ can you say hello?” Cassian asked as the girl emphatically shook her head and kept watching Ben.

 

Her mother laughed, “Sorry about that. Rey’s only three and still adjusting from the move.”

 

As Han made some joke about talkative kids, Ben got fed up with the wide hazel eyes gawping at him and stuck out his tongue at her.

 

Her face split into a wide smile, and she gave a loud giggle before suddenly tackling him to the ground.

 

“Get off!” He shouted, but her chubby hands had a firm grip on his hair.

 

_ “Osito osito osito!” _ She shrieked happily as she clung to him with all her might, her joyful screams turning to tears as Cassian and Han separated them with loud laughs.

 

…

 

He was bent over his sketchbook in the treehouse, trying to perfect the curve of the ‘G’ with his calligraphy pen. The curve was the hardest part. Alright, slow, even, careful, focused-

 

“Whatcha doin?”

 

“Gah!” He jumped, ink splattering all over the page, then turned to glare at the brunette intruder. “Go away!”

 

“Are you coloring?” Rey asked curiously, climbing further into the structure.

 

“No!”

 

Peering over his shoulder, she pointed victoriously at the red ink as he tried to snatch it away. “You  _ are  _ coloring! Do you have any green? Green’s my favorite.”

 

“No I don’t and I’m not coloring! I’m doing calligraphy.” He sniffed, then ripped out the ruined page and started again.

 

Rey watched him for a minute, then asked, “So it’s fancy coloring?”

 

He turned in a rage. “No! It’s not! Now go away!”

 

She frowned at him, sticking out her lower lip, then slowly climbed back down the tree. He sighed in relief, then went back to outlining. Just as he was about to practice his ‘H’, a clatter of plastic hitting the floor interrupted him. Turning, he saw a tupperware full of cookies being slowly pushed towards him by Rey.

 

“If I give you cookies, can I color too?” She bargained with wide, hopeful eyes.

 

He let out an irritated grunt, then handed her the ripped out page and one of his green pens.

 

“It’s a special pen, and really expensive.” He told her as he grabbed the biggest cookie.

 

“I’ll be careful, promise!” She chirped with a smile.

 

Sighing, he went back to his lettering, half-listening to Rey singing to herself as she scribbled with his green pen. Hours later, when Cassian called her in to dinner, she gently handed his pen back, then gave him two more cookies as she stuffed on in her mouth.

 

If Leia wondered why he suddenly needed more supplies, she didn’t ask. And the next time Rey poked her head into the treehouse, a small sketchpad and green pen were waiting on the floor next to Ben’s feet.

 

...

 

He was hiding outside the garage, clutching his journal and sketching the rogue squirrel that his mother blamed for her lavender’s demise, half-listening to his father’s grunts and the clang of metal as Han worked on the Millenium Falcon’s engine. 

 

“Whatcha doin’?” a small voice chirruped, and Ben looked up to see his father drop a wrench and jump a little in surprise at the five-year-old’s sudden appearance.

 

When Rey simply blinked at Han’s frown, his father shrugged and kept working. “Tuning up the Falcon.”

 

“You have a name for your car?” Rey asked excitedly, then proudly presented a worn out doll made of orange and white fabric scraps. “This is Dozzie.”

 

Han sat up, then solemnly shook the doll’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Dozzie.”

 

Rey giggled, then sat down on the concrete floor to watch him slide back underneath the car. “Whatcha doin’ now?”

 

“I’m replacing the spark plugs and checking the fuel injectors,” Han answered patiently, sending a jolt of jealousy down Ben’s spine. He patted the car fondly, then added, “Gotta fix her up for the car show next weekend.”

 

Leia came around with a pitcher of water and a laugh. “He likes fixing it up for fun, Rey. Not just for special events.”

 

After studying the car for several moments, Rey turned to Han with furrowed brows. “But it doesn’t look broken.”

 

Han nodded absentmindedly. “Sometimes things don’t look broken on the outside, but if you know what to listen for, you can tell that they need help on the inside.”

 

Rey’s face lit up with sudden understanding. “Oh! Like Ben!”

 

Ben and both his parents froze at that, and after a minute, Leia bent down and asked softly, “Why do you think that, sweetheart?”

 

Han leaned forward with a sudden intensity. “Did he say something?”

 

Unmoved by the adults’ reactions, Rey shrugged a little. “No. It’s just that even when he’s mad or grumpy or drawing, I think he’s kinda sad.”

 

Swinging back and forth in place, she added, “I try ‘n give him hugs, ‘cuz Papi says my hugs help him not be sad, but it doesn’t work on Ben. His face just goes all pink and funny.”

 

She frowned in thought, then asked, “Do you think he needs a friend? Mama- Mama says that having friends can makes you happy, but sometimes, when he tells me to go ‘way, I think, maybe he don’t want a friend.”

 

Leia took her hands and smiled gently. “I think he does need a friend, Rey. And I think you’re doing a wonderful job at it.”

 

“Really?” She asked brightly.

 

When Leia nodded, she shrieked “Yay!”, then thought a moment. “Do you have any cookies?”

 

Han laughed as Leia shook her head. “We do not have cookies, but we do have some banana bread. Would you like that?”

 

“Yes please!”

 

...

 

“Ben? Can you please come inside for lunch?” Leia called with a sigh as she made her way to the treehouse in the backyard. At ten years old, he should know to come when she first shouted for him, and yet-

 

“Hiya Mrs. Leia!”

 

She blinked at Rey’s upside-down face, brunette hair falling in a straggling cascade.

 

“Well hello Rey. What are you doing here?” She asked with a smile.

 

“Ben says I’m ‘noying him.”

 

Leia glanced into the treehouse window to see her son bent over his journal. “ _ Ben… _ ” She admonished.

 

“What? She is!”

 

“Well it’s time to come inside, dear. Winter made your favorite-”

 

“Can we have lunch in here?” Rey asked, eyes wide with hope.

 

(“I promise we feed her,” Jyn had said the last time Leia had escorted Rey back home. “And I’m so sorry she keeps showing up. I’ll talk to her-”

 

“No, no.” Leia had interrupted. “Please don’t. Ben doesn’t have many friends, and certainly not many with Rey’s… spark. She’s allowed over whenever she likes,” she looked down at the errant girl, “as long as your parents say it’s alright.”

 

“Okay,” Rey had shrugged, then turned to her mother, “do we have any cheese sticks? The Solos always have fancy ones, but their crackers are really good.”)

 

Taking a breath, about to say no, Leia caught the small, tentative glance Ben sent her way, and how his dark eyes softened towards Rey.

 

“Alright,” Leia agreed, and behind Rey’s whooping cheer, she saw her son’s frame relax a small amount. “But you both have to eat your vegetables first.”

 

“Aw!” Rey pouted, while Ben rolled his eyes with a familiarity that made Leia smile with a warm hope for the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Osito - Spanish for 'teddy bear'


End file.
